In Turkey, threats to restrict Internet, journalists attacked

Istanbul, June 5, 2013--Turkish authorities should not
interfere with the free flow of information online or in any other media, the
Committee to Protect Journalists said today after a senior government official
suggested Internet restrictions could be in the offing.

"Restrictions on the Internet will only promote rumor and
conjecture at a time that the country needs facts and freely expressed views,"
CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "The free
exchange of news and information is important at all times, but it is vital at
times of unrest as only a well-informed society has the capacity to restore and
heal itself."

As police clashed with protesters in the nationwide
demonstrations that have claimed at least two
lives, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç suggested at a press conference
in Ankara that the government limit Internet access to prevent further violence,
according to news reports.

"We know the events are directed from some centers," Arınç
said. "We know fake news are being published. ... "It is possible to shut down
all of these. It is possible to prevent access." He continued: "Look at the
tweets! ... There are those who want the police to be slaughtered." The
government official also said that "immoral news" was being spread over the
Internet, but did not offer further details.

Journalists have also been caught
between overzealous law enforcement officers and protesters frustrated by
what they see as inadequate coverage of the opposition protests.

On Monday night, protesters in Ankara threw stones
at a building housing the offices of the pro-government media outlets Kanal 24 TV
and the daily Star, according to news reports. Nobody was injured, the reports
said. Demonstrators in Istanbul also broke the equipment of a CNN Türk camera
crew while its members were conducting interviews in Taksim Square Monday
evening, news reports said. The crew members were not hurt.

CNN News Editor Ali Güven told CPJ that camera crews are afraid
to go in Gezi Park--ground zero of the clashes between police and demonstrators--because
of such episodes. "It is understandable," Güven said, "that there is a reaction
to the media's coverage, but the media have corrected their stance now." The
editor was referring to criticism of some Turkish media for not covering early
stages of the protests or covering them from a pro-government point of view.

Daily Milliyet correspondent Sertaç Koç told CPJ that he was
shot by police firing tear gas pellets in Ankara on Monday. Koç was covering
rallies on İnkilap Street in the capital's central Kızılay district, when
police surrounded protesters and began to fire gas pellets at them. Koç was hit
in the left leg and sustained bruises.

Eren Güvenlik, cameraman for the IMC television, recorded
police firing tear gas directly at him in front of a college near Kızılay district
on Monday, he told CPJ. He said only one pellet hit him, and that he did not
sustain any injuries. He said he would press charges.